Paper Pieced Stars

And Other Things I've Been Up To....

This is a post about all the things that have been going on in my sewing room this week.   It's a mess in there! 

First, two finished projects this week.  It is so gratifying to have a project that's all sewn up...done...

and even better if its started and finished in one day!

I made this Lil' Girl Springtime Tote from a tutorial on

Just Another Hang-up.  (love that blog)  

I made this baby in an hour and a half.  Not bad, especially with two kids crawling all over me! 

I love how it turned out...and it's just the right size for a little girl.  I think I'm going to applique a flower on the linen side, but I didn't have time yesterday.

I also finished this little Shabby Owl Pillow yesterday. 

Both the bag and the owl are for a cute little girl that turned five yesterday. 

I made the Orange Owl in honor of her "O" preschool day on her birthday.

We're not going to talk much about the owl, because I think it looks a little scary!  She named her Lucia.

I'm glad she likes it!

Again, I made this from a tutorial found on Just Another Hang-Up. 

(Her owl is way cuter than mine!)

And a few new projects:

Okay, this one's not new...but I haven't blogged about it yet, either!

I have been working on this project for about four months now, and I'm loving every minute of it. 

I always try to have a hand sewing project around all the time.  Handwork relaxes me and soothes my spirit.  I can't think of any other way to say that.  When I'm sitting down in the evening, watching TV or a movie with my family, I like keeping my hands busy.  Makes me feel a little less lazy for just sitting there.

I was inspired to start this quilt through this post, and this post.

I ordered my paper pieces from paperpieces.com, which I felt was very reasonably priced.

I think I'm going to stick with light and dark values of red for this quilt.  I had planned to do a multi-colored quilt, but I can't bear to put other colors into it.  I love the reds and pinks.

I still have quite a few to go, but I think I have a good start, don't you?

Another little fun project I've been doing this week:

My mom's birthday is tomorrow, and I thought I'd make her a cute little pinwheel table runner in her favorite colors.  

The five pinwheels are pieced from carefully selected charm squares of Buttercup by Fig Tree & Co, and Kona Snow, my favorite white-ish fabric.

And...

My very first Sparklepunch block! 

Don't you love all the marker doodles on my cutting mat? 

 (courtesy of my children!)

Have a great weekend in your sewing room!  I know I will!

(linking to Sew and Tell Friday and Finish it Up Friday)

(edit:  also linking to Sew Darn Crafty!)

New Fabric...a Gift

Remember in my last post I said that I asked for more fabric this last Christmas? 

Well, I did get more fabric, however much my family was offended that I didn't use my Bliss up right away.

My husband had been asking me what I wanted for Christmas this past year, and I was quick to tell him what I wanted...

{A Fat Quarter Bundle of Ruby.}

I even combed the internet to find the best price for him.

I found it at Green Fairy Quilts for the best price, which I love for her great prices on Moda Pre-cuts; and I also love her blog.  I L.O.V.E. to look at the pictures of her amazing quilting.  She is so talented.

So the next time my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told him. 

{Fat Quarter Bundle of Ruby, please.  At Green Fairy Quilts. That's g-r-e-e-n-f-a-i-r-y-q-u-i-l-t-s.com.}

I even told him what link to click once he was on the site.

As the month went on, and my husband continued to ask me what I wanted for Christmas, I started getting a little nervous.  I went so far as to look on Green Fairy Quilts to make sure there still was some Ruby, and about two weeks before Christmas, it was all GONE. 

I  felt panicky.  But, I still had faith in my husband, hoping that he acted quickly and got me exactly what I asked for!

Christmas morning came and of course, my husband didn't let me down!  I was so excited to see the bundle of Ruby that I had wanted so badly.  Yes, my husband IS good to me.

I put it up on the piano through Christmas vacation so I could admire it whenever I wanted to.  Here it is next to the corner of my daughter's Pink DS that she wanted so badly for Christmas.

Isn't it beautiful?  It looks soOoOo lovely all stacked up and tied with the cute moda ribbon!   I don't want to even take them apart.  I've been tempted...but I can't yet!  Once you take it apart, it's forever changed.

I love the addition of grey into their colorway this time.  I love the reds, the pinks, the blues, and the greens, also.  I love them all!

Of course, as I opened my gift, and every time since that I even look at it, my kids and my husband say something about how they hope it won't take me a year to use this fabric!

I already have plans for these babies.

Isn't it natural to do a SWOON quilt?  I think so!



(I don't know who's original photo, but I found it on this etsy site)

I can't wait to get started on it.

A girl can never have too many Works in Progress, right??

**Edit...I just came upon a SWOON Quilt-A-Long this morning at i'm a ginger monkey...so I'm joining in to have some company!  I can't wait!

New Projects...

I've got a new project in the works!  Okay, I ALWAYS have projects in the works. 

This is a NEW project.

I'm mighty excited about it. 

I have lots of projects that just swim around in my head.  If I think to, I write them down onto my project list, so they don't swim away permanently.

This one has been up in my head swimming around for an entire YEAR.  It's been on my project list, too, for that matter.  Number 1.

My kids and my husband gave me these beauties for Christmas.  Last year.  Meaning, 2010.

I love this fabric.  It's called Bliss by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.

When it first came out, I immediately fell in love.

I'm usually not attracted to colors like this.  I usually tend to lean to deep reds, browns, oranges; earth tones.  I think I surprised myself a little when I just couldn't get enough of this fabric.  Maybe it was the red that first caught my eye, because after all, RED is my favorite.  I still, even after a year, love this fabric.

I have wanted this stuff for a long time, but I was determined to not buy it. 

I don't buy a ton of stuff for myself, especially with my husband back in school, but I feel like I DO buy too much fabric.

So, with the holidays coming up, I was determined to NOT buy any more fabric.  Even if it meant I couldn't have BLISS.

I just made a shameless plug to my husband, and my kids, at any time that I knew they were listening.

I made a quilt with Bliss for my mother-in-law in November 2010, so they all knew what I was talking about.

Christmas morning last year, I was well rewarded for my patience.  Not only did I get t.h.r.e.e. charm packs of my beautiful Bliss, but I got two yards of the Bliss white dots, 3/4 of a yard of Bliss red on red flowers (technical, I know), and four yards of wonderful, soft, luxurious Bliss flannel in red dots.  I was so excited!

Because of the craziness of my year last year, all that I could do with them is place them in my fabric closet, close it up, and peek in once in a while to drool over them.  I had lots of projects and just craziness that I couldn't find the time to spend with them. 

So they sat.  And I drooled.  And my husband and kids were supremely offended because I didn't use it. 

I asked for more fabric this Christmas.  Their response to me was: 

{Mom, we bought you fabric for Christmas last year, and you never used it.} 

I simply told them that a girl can never have enough fabric! 

It will get used.

I'm making a stacked coins quilt with these babies.

I made the same thing for my mother-in-law in November 2010, because she was going into the hospital for back surgery, and was feeling very depressed and apprehensive about it.  I thought I would make her a quilt, because I felt very powerless to help her.  But I could make her a quilt, and maybe it would cheer her up a little through her recovery.

While I was making it for her, I totally fell in love with it. 

Honestly, I had a REALLY hard time giving it to her.

Do any of you ever feel like that?  You make something for a loved one, but in the end it's hard to give away because you love it so much?  I guess that's the definition of a gift made with love.

So, because of the generosity of my wonderful husband and kids, I get to make myself one this year!

I can't wait.